Laura was fuming as she tried the front door of the cottage unsuccessfully. Baralai had actually placed his wife in some kind of danger and then just drove off, expecting Laura to save her. She had given him more credit than to do something so asinine!

Circling around to the back, she didn't have expect to have much luck with the glass door, but she was pleasantly surprised when it opened. Leaving it open in case a quick getaway was needed, she quietly snuck inside. She was heading towards the kitchen when she heard loud noises coming from the other hallway. Going into the kitchen to grab a knife, she hurried towards the source of the sound, coming upon the open cellar door. Unsure what she would find, Laura cautiously crept downstairs, trying to ignore the uneasiness she felt. There was an atmosphere of darkness that had nothing to do with the bad lighting. She heard more sounds and tightened her grip on the knife as she headed in that direction.

Arrass callously dumped the barely conscious Trophy on to the table, handcuffing her to the eye bolt before retrieving his scissors from the wooden box he had brought down earlier, in case Baralai handed her over to him. "Let's get you looking like a proper slave." he said as he began cutting all her clothes off. "Well, what do we have here?"

Trophy started struggling again when she felt him roughly fondle her ass, his seeking fingers having discovered the butt plug she always wore when leaving the house. She tried to yell at him to stop, but she was still gagged and could only make sounds, not words.

"You hiding something special up there?" he asked her tauntingly as he pulled the plug out. "Baralai must have thought so, he always did like to keep the choicest goods for himself. I think we'll finish stripping you later, I want to find out how good you are." He put the scissors down on the table and started unfastening his pants as Trophy's struggling intensified. "You can fight all you want, all you're going to do is make this hurt more. Alase learned quickly, I hope you're smarter than she is."

Trophy shook her head in denial as she felt his naked flesh against hers. She was hopelessly trapped, bound and gagged by someone who hated her husband enough to spend years plotting revenge…and he was going to get it now, she thought despairingly as he forced her cheeks apart. Tears filled her eyes as she waited for the defilement to start, but it never came.

"You!" Laura spat from the open doorway, the sight of Arrass about to rape Trophy filling her with rage. She brandished the knife for a moment, the blade gleaming wickedly in the bright light, then launched herself at him, knocking them both onto the floor, where they rolled around on the floor, fighting over the knife. "I've been waiting a long time for this!" she told him angrily when she got him pinned under her, about to stab him when he suddenly knocked it out of her hand. "Like that matters." she said unconcernedly, head-butting him before she decided her fist would be more effective, and she slammed hers into his face over and over again until he went slack. Sporting a malicious smiled that echoed one of his own, she casually got up and turned her attention to Trophy still restrained on the low table, triumph turning to horror as she saw the knife sticking out of her friend's neck.

Baralai was halfway back to the cottage when an emergency vehicle carrying medical personnel and peace officers passed him, some of them looking inquiringly at the sight of Bevelle's leader just walking down a deserted road towards the scene of some kind of serious incident. He started walking faster, muttering a quick prayer that Trophy was safe and his plan had worked…there were so many damned variables! At least he had been seen far enough away to confirm his alibi. When he finally arrived, Laura was outside the cottage, pacing nervously, stopping when she saw him approaching.

"You bastard!" she whispered fiercely as she pulled him aside. "I thought better of you than this!"

"It was the only way." he replied defensively. "How is she?"

"I'm waiting to find out, there wasn't room for me to stay with her, not with all the responders and investigators….if she doesn't make it, neither will you!" Laura promised him, feeling better with how he blanched. "Nice to know you do care about her."

"What happened?" he asked, ignoring Laura's comments since he understood why she was angry.

"He knocked the knife out of my hand, so I knocked him out. But the knife lodged in her neck." she pointedly told him, glad he blanched again.

"Well, you are all very lucky." One of the medical responders said, coming out of the cottage. "She's got a mild concussion and some bruising, but the knife luckily didn't penetrate very deep, and missed the artery. She'll have a nice scar there, but she's going to be okay. We need to take her back with us though, we've got to do a more thorough examination."

"And I've got some more thorough questions for you." Beclem said, coming out of the cottage next. "I'm in charge of this investigation now."